my %old_lookup; for my $leader (keys %old) { $old_lookup{$_} = $leader for @{ $old{$leader} }; } #### Bill => [], #### for my $newtl (sort keys %new) { my %needtomeet; for my $rep (@{ $new{$newtl} }) { my $oldtl = $old_lookup{$rep}; push @{$needtomeet{$oldtl}},$rep if $oldtl; yadda yadda ...